Guest Post by Bhakti Shringarpure In the past decade, not many places have been as over-represented or as under-understood than Sudan and the newly formed South Sudan. From a barrage of news articles to a flurry of op-eds, from millions of dollars spent on advertising and brand-management for Darfur activism to insipid, shallow visits from […]
Now that George Clooney got arrested (and got out on a nominal $100 fine) along with a few other campaigners while ‘raising awareness’ on war crimes in Sudan, people who should know better (like NAACP president, Ben Jealous) are drawing comparisons to those who protested outside the Apartheid South Africa’s embassies and consulates. Jealous even […]
On July 6 2011, the world’s diplomatic elite flocked to one of the globe’s most underdeveloped regions to bask in the warm glow of the birth of a new nation. That South Sudan’s struggle for independence had claimed the lives of an estimated 2million people, and that the majority of its inaugural citizens had been […]
On Monday Human Rights Watch released a major report: ‘Waiting Here for Death’: Forced Displacement and ‘Villagization’ in Ethiopia’s Gambella Region. Villagization basically amounts to rural gentrification, in which vulnerable populations are forcibly relocated, often at gunpoint and never with any consultation, so that the land might become `more productive.’ The story has all the major players: foreign donors, the Ethiopian government, foreign and domestic investors, and rural and indigenous populations.
It was a great year, maybe one of the best ever, for direct action in-the-streets in-your-face pro-democracy movements, and they were largely pushed and pulled by women. Starting with Tunisia, food uprisings spread quickly to Egypt, Algeria, and elsewhere across the continent. Sometimes, big men were pushed out.
Oh dear. The new nation of South Sudan is already sprouting some early teething troubles about media freedom. Apparently, President Salva Kiir Mayardit (above) “handed over his beloved beautiful elder daughter,” one Adu Mayardit, to her husband in a wedding ceremony held in the Catholic Cathedral at Rajaf. One would usually imagine that this would […]
Some people thought this was a joke when it first trended on Twitter. But it is true Sarah Palin, who thinks Africa is a country, plans to use South Sudan to bolster her resume. From ABC News’ The Note Blog: ABC News’ Dana Hughes (@Dana_Hughes) reports it’s possible Palin will visit Juba in South Sudan […]
Recent demonstrations in Sudan’s capital Khartoum over road conditions and traffic signals have led some observers in the West to speculate about the possibilities of a Egypt-style revolution there (see FT, BBC and Al Jazeera English, for example; Sudan-specific blogs, like Making Sense of Sudan, are silent on the protests). For our sake, I asked a […]
Josephine Ablang, the very young Minister of Finance, Trade, and Industry from Eastern Equatoria State in South Sudan, and Zeinab Yassim, Special Advisor to the Governor of Eastern Equatoria on Gender and Human Rights Issues, are in the US, on a mission to sell their new country. They arrive hours later than planned at the […]
